The ARConWall Structural
System for Swimming Pools
The Background
to the ARConWall Structural System
Introduction
The "ARConWall
System" is an ancronym from "Anchored Reinforced
Concrete Wall"
The system consists
of:-
- The reinforced concrete highly
insulated pool walls on a substantial concrete footing
- Structural concrete pool
terracing slabs that are connected to the pool walls with
reinforcement and prop the top of the pool wall and provide
a rigid foundation for the pool paving around the piscine.
Before PVC
Liners
The history of
swimming pool construction can be divided into two distinct
eras - Before PVC Liners and Post PVC Liners.
Before PVC Liners
there were only two ways that professional pool builders used
to construct concrete swimming pools:-
- Through the construction
of a very heavy thick high reinforced concrete tank using
conventional concrete
- Through the construction
of a quite thin reinforced concrete tank using very high
strength "Gunnite" concrete that is sprayed onto
forms using high pressure compressed air.
Neither of these types were
particularly suitable for private pools because they both
require a full scale site investigation and a specific site
design by a professional engineer as well as highly skilled
site operatives and expensive equipment.
These factors mean that these
types of swimming pool were far too costly for domestic swimming
pools.
Many pools were also built using
concrete block walls that were constructed on concrete base
slab that also formed the floor of the pool. These were mainly
built on a DIY basis or by a builder working for his client.
Some of these pools held water and some did not. Many different
materials were used to try and waterproof the pool walls but
most only worked for a time and then a slight structural movement
would take place that caused the pool to leak. Once the leak
got too bad the pool would be left to fall into disrepair.
Fibre-glass pools were also
available but they have always been looked on as a second
class cousin to concrete pools because the fibre-glass industry
has never really developed a high performance product.
Post PVC Liners
The introduction
of PVC liners allowed the development of modular panel pools
and concrete block wall pools that were not as rigid, stiff
and costly as the concrete tank type pools that had to be
designed to hold water.
The invention of
the PVC liner has been the most significant thing that has
ever happened in the swimming pool industry. PVC liners are
now produced that are suitable for every type of pool - from
the heaviest used commercial pools - to the pools with the
highest environmental loading from ice, snow and the sun.
To be frank any
pool builder that is not using PVC liners is providing his
Clients with a sub-standard product!
The only downside
of PVC liner technology is that manufacturers of the modular
panel pools have jumped onto the pool construction bandwagon
and produce an array of panel pool products that are fine
for above ground pools - but are entirely unsuitable for buried
in-ground pools where they are now frequently used.
Structurally a
PVC Liner pool has to be stable enough to be absolutely certain
that structural failure will not occur but not totally rigid
because any slight cracking does not lead to leaks because
the water proofing is provided by the PVC Liner and not the
pool structure itself.
There are three
important structural implications from this that have never
really been fully appreciated by most professional pool builders.
These are:-
- The walls and floor of the
pool do not have to be rigidly connected because any slight
movement will not affect the waterproofing capability of
the liner
- The floor of the pool does
not have to be rigid because slight movement in the floor
will not affect the waterproofing capability of the liner
- The walls of the pool can
be used to support the concrete slab terracing around the
pool because any minor cracking in the walls from the extra
load will not affect the waterproofing capability of the
liner
This allows the professional
pool builder to provide:-
- A pool floor that consists
of levelling concrete covered by a screed finish without
any reinforcement or structural connection to the pool walls
- Free standing pool walls
on a strip footing around the pool
- Structural concrete pool
terrace slabs around the entire pool perimeter that are
supported at one end by the pool walls and at the other
end by the firm ground outside the pool excavation.
The concrete terrace slabs around
the pool perimter provide two massive benefits:-
- They span over the backfilled
ground and the sub-soil that has been weakened by the excavation
for the pool thus avoiding the traditional subsidence alongside
the pool walls
- They rigidly hold the top
of the pool walls in position thus allowing Bluepools to
adopt its motto "Built for Life"
After years of research and
the construction of 30 pools in the difficult ground conditions
of SW France we have developed a new pool structural system
that takes full advantage of the PVC Liner Technology.
We call this structural system
the "ARConWall System" an ancronym from "Anchored
Reinforced Concrete Wall"
The ARConWall
Video
We have made this
video to provide more information on the ARConWall System
and how it works.
PDF files
of the Video
The Video
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